Ray Winstone exclusive: The hard times

'We lived in a council flt and hid from the taxman,' reveals his daughter Jaime.

It hasn't been an easy journey, but Ray Winstone has earned his place on the red carpet.

As he strolled into the premiere of the new Indiana Jones film in Cannes on Sunday, Ray's days of ducking and diving as a struggling actor are clearly long gone.

And when he gets back to his favourite local pub, The Crusader in Roydon, Essex, the actor could be forgiven if he breathed a sigh of relief that his career is finally as spectacular as he'd always dreamed it could be.

Today home is a sprawling Essex mansion with its own private boozer in the garden but, for many years, Ray brought up his family in a two-bedroom council flat.

His children Lois and Jaime shared a room and ran wild in the streets with the kids on their estate in Enfield, North London, while their dad endured the daily grind of finding work as an actor.

To make ends meet he sold women's underwear from a market stall, once even flogging his van to pay for a holiday. But his family never went short. His children always remember getting the best toys and there being plenty of food on the table.

Daughter Jaime recalls: "I always had the best toys and the best clothes.

"God knows how that happened, but it did. You know, you duck and dive and get the best you can.

"But there were some sticky situations, hiding from the tax man, that kind of thing."

Occasionally, his cashflow problems did catch up with Ray. Twice declared bankrupt, he considered quitting the acting business for good. He was drinking heavily and getting into trouble and was even arrested a few times for assault.

But for a while it had seemed that young Ray had cracked it. The former boxer - who plays Indy's sidekick Mac in the new film Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull - wowed the acting world in 1977 with his performance in Scum, the violently realistic TV film about life in a borstal.

Then for two decades he struggled to get work. But he grafted, both on the screen and down the market and paid off all his debts. There were fleeting appearances on Boon, One Foot In The Grave, Casualty and as Will Scarlett in the TV series Robin Of Sherwood.

A friend says: "Ray survived with the help of his family but it was very tight."

But in 1997 everything changed. Cast as the violent alcoholic husband in Nil By Mouth, he found a role that finally made casting directors take notice and Hollywood came calling.

At last the money began rolling in and by 2001 he moved the family to their large Essex farmhouse. The move came as a huge shock to Jaime, now 23, and Lois, 25, two streetwise kids who suddenly found themselves in rural village.

Jaime went briefly off the rails while Lois started heading into town to attend raves. Now Jaime says: "We were like, 'Why are there sheep in the garden?

What are we doing here?' It was such a culture shock."

Ray's wife Elaine has been by his side throughout the highs and lows of his career. They met in 1979 when he was filming That Summer on the south coast and the actor credits her with keeping his feet on the ground.

They separated briefly in the early 90s for six months, though Ray has insisted it was for financial rather than emotional reasons.

And when they moved to Roydon they decided to add to their family - Ray is now the proud father of Ellie, six.

Jaime has become a successful actress and big sister Lois is a singer in the band Crack Village. Both regularly travel to Essex for Sunday dinner.

Family has always been important to Ray. His sister Laura Hopwood, 49, says: "He's very kind and so generous with everyone - his family and his friends. He's always been there for me. Like now, he'll invite us over to his lovely home in Roydon and tell us to use his pool whenever we want. And if he's abroad he'll be on the phone and tell us to come over for a holiday, wherever he is in the world.

"We went to LA when he was doing Beowulf. And when he was in Ireland doing King Arthur we stayed over there for ages.

"My son Bobby even did stunts for them on the shoot."

Ray's drinking is firmly under control now, though he admits he still has the occasional binge.

And although he's no poster boy for the keep-fit brigade, the burly actor swims every day, walks on the treadmill and watches what he eats.

But he still likes a jar or two in Raymondos, the private pub he had built in his garden, where stars including Gwyneth Paltrow have dropped in for a pint.

Or he occasionally walks into the village for a drink in The Crusader.

Four years ago, he joined with his drinking buddies to strip for a charity calendar. Jack Letherbarrow, landlord of the White Hart - another of Ray's regular haunts, says: "He is very popular with the locals. He's so down to earth, he has no airs and graces.

"There are a few people in the pub who are involved with charities and Ray always helps them. He doesn't hide away and loves a laugh.

"Now and again people get a bit too close to him but he never complains.

"He has helped out the local boys' football club and has signed their shirts.

He is a lovely fella and a good friend."

City worker turned charity worker John Manitara also lives in the village and sometimes bumps into Ray at the local primary school.

"I've met him a couple of times at the school and spoken to him in the playground - just two dads having a chat," he says.

"He's just a nice down-to-earth bloke.

"No one really bothers him here, we're are quite respectful of his privacy."

It goes a long way to explaining why Ray the Hollywood icon has no intention of quitting his Essex hideaway for LA.